If you are a gun enthusiast, then you have probably heard about or considered doing hand-loading or reloading your own ammunition. Some hunters and shooters take on reloading their ammo on their own for several different reasons. Most of them think it is cost-effective, while others consider it as a fun and worthwhile hobby.

If you are a newbie hunter or you are someone who’s just starting with your shooting hobby, you’ll surely want to know why having your own reloading kit is a good idea. Here’s a list of reasons why:

It helps you save money for ammo in the long run

Those people who hunt or visit the nearest shooting range quite often know how expensive ammunition can be. This makes reloading their ammo an excellent idea because it lets them save a good amount of money.

Of course, investing in the equipment is necessary and it might take a while for you to break even on the cost of the reloading kit, but it will surely make a difference if you are a frequent shooter.

You can achieve perfect ballistics, dimensions, and quality for your ammo

When you do the reloading of your ammo on your own, you are free to explore new possibilities when it comes to the type and quality of the ammunition that you use.

For example, if you are a rifle shooter, you can improve your long-range performance by making sure your ammo has perfect dimensions and contains a particular combination of gun powder. You can even adjust the concentricity of the bullets, the consistency of your primer pockets, and other things.

It can be a fun and exciting hobby for you

Reloading your own ammo can definitely bring out the tinker in you. Experimenting will tickle your mind and can be a really cool hobby where you can find new things to try and learn.

Reloading Kit Basics

There are quite a number of things that can be found in a reloading kit, the most important of which is the reloading press. There are three different types of presses, namely: single-stage, turret, and progressive presses.

Single-stage press: This design allows the use of one die while you are loading one case at a time. It is the simplest and most affordable type of press, making it common among shooters. The downside is that you need to switch the die out in between operations.

Turret press: The design of a turret press is almost the same as that of a single-stage press but it can hold all of the dies at the same time. However, although it doesn’t require as much effort in adjusting the dies, it does provide less rigidity and therefore may result to misalignment.

Progressive press: The good thing about this type of press is the fact that it is really fast and it can load way more rounds than a single stage press can in an hour.

Reloading experts would highly recommend using the single stage press for beginners since it is way easier to operate and cheaper compared to the other two press types.

Other Equipment in Your Reloading Kit

Dies: This tool is necessary for de-priming and resizing the brass according to the desired specification. Dies come in sets of cartridges which are basically the ammunition packages. They come in different shapes and sizes. The design of the cartridges is unique for every type of firearm. The most common types are bottleneck cartridges and straight-wall cartridges.

Powder Scale: Making sure that every round of ammo contains the exact amount of powder. This is why a powder scale is an important tool that you need to have in your kit. You can choose between balance or electronic scales but if you are after accuracy, the electronic scale is the better option.

Also, getting the exact charge weight can be quite challenging, especially since you will be working with a relatively small amount of powder to be loaded on the rounds. Trickler helps in getting just the right weight by dropping one kernel at a time.

Calipers: Calipers are necessary to make sure you get the dimensions of the ammunition correct. Electronic calipers provide an accurate reading.

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